1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to the field of wireless communications, more particularly to a method of and device for digitally controlled variable gain amplification.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
Rapid growth in the portable communications market has pushed designers to seek low-cost, low-power, highly integrated solutions for the RF transceiver in accordance with the IEEE 802.11a-1999 Part 11: “Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications—High Speed Physical Layer in the 5 GHz Band which is incorporated herein by reference. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit is a circuit by which gain is automatically adjusted in a specific manner as a function of a specified parameter, such as received signal strength. Gain is the ratio of output current, voltage or power to input voltage or power respectively and is usually expressed in decibels (dB). If the value is less than unity, the dB gain is negative indicating a loss between input and output.
Radio receivers typically have an AGC algorithm connected to some sort of Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA) which adjusts the gain to compensate for the wide dynamic range of the input signal level. In integrated radio circuits, the use of baseband VGA's is becoming popular, however, for complex modulation schemes separate in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) output paths are necessary. As will be appreciated by those in the art, certain radio frequency (RF) applications perform signal processing operations by separating radio frequency signals into signal components representing in-phase and quadrature channels (I and Q channels). For example, in direct conversion receivers, in-phase and quadrature phase signals are utilized to help in demodulating received signals. Generally, signals on the I and Q channel have equal amplitudes and a ninety degree phase difference, and these signals are separately processed by similar circuitry that maintain the amplitude and phase relationships. However, imperfections and mismatches in implementing circuitry may lead to an amplitude or phase imbalance, i.e., a deviation from the ideal amplitude and phase relationships.
When phase or gain imbalance distorts the received signal, subsequent signal processing is impacted. It is necessary to match the gain and phase of the VGA's used in the baseband AGC. Past solutions have used staggered AGCs with one single analogue control signal for adjusting the gain in an analogue fashion. Alternately, a single stage AGC has been used with a large dynamic range requirement. Neither of the aforementioned solutions has adequately overcome the problem highlighted above.